MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Lebanon have taken concrete and positive steps that demonstrate their mutual accord and commitment to the promotion of decent work for household service workers (HSWs) in accordance with international standards with the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Labor Cooperation and a Protocol on Regulating the Recruitment and Employment of HSWs.

Under the agreements, both Lebanon and the Philippines shall ensure that the recruitment of Filipino HSWs shall be done in accordance with the legal procedures that are currently in force in Lebanon and the Philippines, to take effect upon the lifting of the existing ban on their deployment to the country.

The Protocol provides the guidelines that shall govern the recruitment and deployment of Filipino HSWs to Lebanon.

It outlines the specific measures that both countries shall undertake to enhance and ensure the rights, welfare, and protection of household service workers during their stay in Lebanon.

It also specifies the processes and procedures that recruitment agencies in both countries have to follow and comply with in recruiting and deploying Filipino HSWs to work in Lebanon.

One of the most important provisions of the Protocol is that both Parties will exert their best efforts to come up with a mutually acceptable and unified work contract and to lift the ban within a period of 30 days from effectivity of the Memorandum of Understanding and the Protocol.